Purification Withdrawal (DANIEL X OC)

Chapter 5: Coming Clean

Over the next few days, Daniel had been pretty quiet. He didn't ask for much assistance. One evening, Bailey had gathered up the necessities from under the bathroom counter and headed to Daniel's room.

"Hey?" Bailey called as she opened the bedroom door. Daniel passively hummed in response, not even looking at her and staring outside at the late summer sky.

"I, uh. I brought some medicine. The, uh, stuff for your cuts and burns."
Daniel turned his head to look at Bailey. He noted the bottles of relieving cream and bags of cotton in her arms.

"I'll, um....I'll need to put it on you." She mumbled.

"Oh." Daniel started.

He pursed his lips and huffed, turning back to the window.

"I won't need that. The star energy should come down and heal me soon enough. I just need to wait."

Bailey blinked, then her posture slumped as she let out a scoff in disbelief.

"Star-what?" She managed to force out, too mentally exhausted to even laugh at the very title.

"Star energy! The planetary dust that comes down from space and cures what ails you!"
Daniel spoke as if this was something only the most intelligent of people knew. As if this didn't make him sound like a six year old boy spouting complete nonsense.

Bailey shook her head.

"Well, until then, do you want cream to stop your scabs from itching?" She tilted her head, trying to compromise.

"Oh, no, no. I don't believe in that kind of stuff."

"I...Huh?"

"Modern medicine! The stuff the doctor's shove onto you and keep you from healing the way nature intended! It's bad enough you gave me that knock-out medicine!"

Bailey groaned "Cold medicine. That was cold medicine."

"I nearly died!"

"You fell asleep and had a nightmare!"

Daniel growled.

"Which is already a bad sign. Negative forces seeping into dreams is the first phase. If I sleep more, I'll phase out of the solar force! My energy will just be, poof, gone! I'll be nothing!"

"I...I have no idea what we're talking about right now."

"I don't expect a commoner like you to understand."

Bailey walked to Daniel's bedside table and set all the bottles and bags down, then put a hand on her hip and gave Daniel a firm, angry stare. Similar to a mother giving a child the world renowned 'you're getting on my last nerve' look. Daniel stared back with an equally bossy aura.

"Oh, we're not getting anywhere with this! Can you just let me look at your injuries?"

"Well..." Daniel leaned back.

"Oh, fine. Go ahead." He said as he straightened up, finally agreeing to something.

Bailey sighed with a smile and nodded, walking to the bed.

Bailey sat at Daniel's bedside. She mimicked unbuttoning his shirt with her hand and looked to him for approval. He averted his gaze and nodded.

Bailey proceeded to pull the buttons away and open his shirt. Her stomach sank as she looked him over. His cuts and wounds, though thin scabs had formed, still looked very open and painful. More prominent was the cut on his stomach. Bailey covered her mouth and leaned back, looking him over. It really was a heart-wrenchingly horrific sight.